On the one hand its a good thing she's committed to her fitness regimen. But some of the other stuff is sending some confusing signals. She's back hitting balls but at the NTC and not in Florida. The guy who was to travel with her is apparently out of retirement as a player and asking for WCs to Challenger tournaments in South America.

On the one hand its a good thing she's committed to her fitness regimen. But some of the other stuff is sending some confusing signals. She's back hitting balls but at the NTC and not in Florida. The guy who was to travel with her is apparently out of retirement as a player and asking for WCs to Challenger tournaments in South America.

At least if she gets fir for January 2015 Laura won't have any points to defend.

That should help her get back into the top 100 next season.

What do you want her to do? Play if she isn't ready? She played the the entire Asian swing last year with the wrist sill troubling her and suffered for it. She only started hitting a few weeks ago again, I'm sure she wants to be sure everything will be okay.

It's clear you want her to force herself to be back on court. Not only is that not wise, it could be career threatening.

PS - try being a Jamie Hampton fan. It's much worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tampering

Have we already seen the end of another coaching regime?

Jesse is her hitting partner not coach. This wasn't really the set up she wanted anyway, she approached Aussie coach (?) but didn't come to an agreement.

What do you want her to do? Play if she isn't ready? She played the the entire Asian swing last year with the wrist sill troubling her and suffered for it. She only started hitting a few weeks ago again, I'm sure she wants to be sure everything will be okay.

It's clear you want her to force herself to be back on court. Not only is that not wise, it could be career threatening.

Yes, wrists aren't to be messed around with for tennis players. She mismanaged both wrists thinking she could do too much.

Quote:

Jesse is her hitting partner not coach. This wasn't really the set up she wanted anyway, she approached Aussie coach (?) but didn't come to an agreement.

I did say regime not coach. She did say coming out of AO that she'd like to stay with the setup for a while. We'll see what happens when she gets back into action. For the moment most of the elements seem out of the picture with her rehabbing in Roehampton.

I'm getting the sense that some of the media in the UK are beginning to run out of patience. She has the getting back from injury card to play when she comes back, but she needs some results shortly thereafter or they might switch from building up to tearing down pretty quickly.

Yes, wrists aren't to be messed around with for tennis players. She mismanaged both wrists thinking she could do too much.

I did say regime not coach. She did say coming out of AO that she'd like to stay with the setup for a while. We'll see what happens when she gets back into action. For the moment most of the elements seem out of the picture with her rehabbing in Roehampton.

I'm getting the sense that some of the media in the UK are beginning to run out of patience. She has the getting back from injury card to play when she comes back, but she needs some results shortly thereafter or they might switch from building up to tearing down pretty quickly.

Jesse isn't really needed right now. His main purpose was to travel to tournaments with her. Laura isn't playing any for a few weeks now at least, maybe longer. Playing a few challengers doesn't indicate that much. Sloane Stephens hitting partner still plays a few challengers now and again. He travels with her when she's playing tourneys.

And stop reading the Daily Mail or most articles about Laura from
UK tabloids. It'll help you greatly.

It's clear you want her to force herself to be back on court. Not only is that not wise, it could be career threatening.

Not in the sligthtest - I know tendinitis is an order of magnitude worse than muscle or soft tissue injuries so she can't play until she is 100%. Ask Rafa Nadal about how tendinitis has affected his career, or Owen Hargreaves who was considered the best English footballer at a world cup but developed tendinitis in his knee and spent 4 years having treatment before retiring without really ever playing again.

If you look back 12 months you will see that when Laura was fully fit and lost every tournament in the 1st round between Oz & Spain, there were lots of posts of the form 'at least she won't have any points to defend next year so 2014 could be good/better/breakthrough etc'. I was simply continuing the theme with a wry smile, (which doesn't seem to appear in the smiley faces.)

If she is not fully fit in another couple of months Laura is going to be playing a lot of qualifiers just to get into the main draw which will put extra stress on her inflamed tendons.

On the one hand its a good thing she's committed to her fitness regimen. But some of the other stuff is sending some confusing signals. She's back hitting balls but at the NTC and not in Florida.

I think the "confusing signals" may reflect that her wrist rehab is proving a bumpy ride, rather than any planned changes in her coaching set-up.

If you look at the timeline for a moment: She announced on Facebook on 11 Feb that she'd been given the "all clear" by her doctor to resume hitting. It appeared from the photo that she was practising with a lightweight ball which suggested she was taking things gently, but promisingly, she was wearing no strapping nor was she in the karaoke video she posted on Intagram shortly afterwards. On the 15th she posted a photo of herself actually hitting on court with the hashtag #happylaura. So far, so good... However there have been no more on court photos of her posted since, and - to set alarm bells ringing - her left wrist was bandaged again in the latest of her Hip Hop Videos posted on the 21st. That suggests that she's been experiencing a recurrence of wrist pain: The fact that she's playing ping pong also indicates that she's had to take a temporary break from 'proper tennis'. And now she's trying homeopathic remedies like acupuncture.

The reason she hasn't flown out to Florida may be that her wrist is still too delicate for her to hit balls consistently hard and routinely. She claims that she's making progress and I'm sure she would like to play Miami in mid-March since she has fond memories of reaching the doubles final there last year with Lisa Raymond. Whether her wrist will be ready by then to handle the strain is another question...

I'm getting the sense that some of the media in the UK are beginning to run out of patience. She has the getting back from injury card to play when she comes back, but she needs some results shortly thereafter or they might switch from building up to tearing down pretty quickly.

Although they tend to report on most of Laura's results, they only really care about how she does at Wimbledon. That will determine whether they start to build her up more or tear her down.

Although they tend to report on most of Laura's results, they only really care about how she does at Wimbledon. That will determine whether they start to build her up more or tear her down.

I suppose its pretty much the same everywhere with the general sports fan and more general news/sports media covering tennis only during a few weeks of the year.

I'm not really hopeful about seeing her return before May, which would probably be the best decision for her injury. I hope the last six months has shed her of the youthful sense of invincibility when it comes to managing injury.

I suppose its pretty much the same everywhere with the general sports fan and more general news/sports media covering tennis only during a few weeks of the year.

I'm not really hopeful about seeing her return before May, which would probably be the best decision for her injury. I hope the last six months has shed her of the youthful sense of invincibility when it comes to managing injury.